Note: Adapted from Food & Wine magazine. Biscuits can be baked all at once or portions of the dough pulled off for baking a few at a time. The dough can be kept refrigerated in a tightly covered bowl for about two days.

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the yeast and lukewarm water, then set aside until the mixture is foamy, 5 to 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the buttermilk and stir until completely blended. Stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a fork.

3. Flour your hands and gather the dough into a ball. On a floured surface, knead the dough until soft and smooth, adding more flour as necessary to reduce stickiness, about 5 minutes.

4. Roll out the dough to a thickness of about half an inch. Using a 2-inch-round cutter, stamp out the biscuits and place them close together on a baking sheet. Gather the scraps, pat out the dough, and continue cutting rounds until the dough is used. Cover with a kitchen towel and set aside to rise in a warm place until almost doubled, about an hour.

(Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times) RICH:Chickpea and noodle soup with Persian herbs. Click here for the recipe. Your behind-the-scenes look at the Los Angeles Times Test Kitchen: We test, on average, more than 600 recipes a year. Roughly 400 of these make it to print. That means you don't have...

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